San Diego County Newspaper Articles
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San Diego Union: June 27, 2009
1870 GOLD STRIKE GRIPPED BACKCOUNTRY
PROSPECTORS ARRIVED DAILY IN THRONGS
SHOO FLY, DON'T BOTHER ME WERE NAMES OF CLAIMS
Be Richard Crawford
Sometime in late January 1870, a rancher named Fred Coleman
paused alongside a creek in a small mountain vallley near the headwaters
of the San Diego River. While his horse drank from the stream, Coleman
looked down and saw what appeared to be yellow parrticles glittering in the
sunlight. He unpacked a skillet from his saddlebag and began panning.
Coleman, 41, had found gold. Within weeks, scores of hopeful
prospectors were sluicing the gravel of "Coleman Creek" The San Diego
Union was skeptical: 'We do not hear of any rich strikes yet .. , these are
surface diggings, and there are no indications of any considerable deposits."
The skepticism vanished when a mule train carrying 1,500 pounds
of rich ore arrived in San Diego. Reporting the news on March 10, the Union
admitted that "intense excitement" now gripped the town. The gold ore was
not from a stream but from gold-bearing quartz dug up on Feb. 22 -
Washington's birthday. News of the "George Washington Mine" set off a rush
of people heading for the mountains.
A correspondent for the Union wrote on March 17: 'The excitement
is so intense that one scarcely knows whether he is on his head or heels.
Imagine 800 men turned loose in the mountains with as little sense, and as
much 'friskyness' as so many horses. The people here are positively wild."
Gold seekers arrived daily from Los Angeles and San Berrnardino
counties, along with "throngs" of men from San Dieego. In the bitter cold of
early March, most of the men camped in tents. Despite the poor
accommodations, the miners gathered in groups and talkked "excitedly over
the prospects." Two "rum mills in full blast" eased the cold and fueled the
excitement.
Prospecting was expensive, work. "Only men of means need go
there," cautioned the Los Angeles Star. Mining tools and provisions were
scarce; $1.50 per day was the rate offfered for "the mere use of a pick and
shovel," reported the San Diego Bulletin. "Saddle horses cannot be had for
love or money, and team horses are in great demand."
The situation began to change as a town emerged on a flat tract of
land only a few hunndred yards below the Washington Mine. On property
mostly owned by miner Drury Bailey, lots of 25 feet by 100 feet were
"stepped off' and offered free to miners who agreed to build immmediately.
The Union reported brisk sales of the lots in late March at $50 to $150 each,
acccording to location. The miners named the town "Julian City" in honor of
Mike Julian, Bailey's cousin and recorder of the mining district.
With lumber in short supply, tents and brush shanties filled the lots
at first. On March 29, the Union reported "one log house just finished, and
several more going up, three or four grocery and provision stores, and a
dozen whisky mills." The writer estimated there were 300 people living in
Julian and perhaps 1,200 in the region (or half the census-reported population
of San Diego in 1870).
At least 40 mining claims had been filed. The miners found lode gold
in several hillside areas near Julian. The claims bore dignified names such as
Gen. McClelland, Mount Verrnon, The Monroe, Lincoln, and the U.S. Grant, as
well as oddly dubbed claims like Shoo Fly, April Fool, You Bet, and Don't
Bother Me.
When a particularly rich strike occurred south of Julian in the
Cuyamacas, miners rushed to the new area surrrounding the Stonewall Mine.
The town of Cuyamaca rose up nearby. Another town called Branson City
prospered for a while only a mile west of Julian.
The biggest rival camp was Banner, eight miles east of Juulian, at the
base of a precipitous grade. With the discovery of rich lodes in August 1870,
hunndreds of miners abandoned Juulian to try the new claims.
Eight months after the discovery of gold in San Diego's backcountry,
a reporter for the Union summed up the results: 'The development of the claims
has proved that they are rich, and will 'hold out.' Every new discovery shows
more valuable ore than the last; and it seems to us that the claim of Julian to
rank among the richest mining districts of the Pacific Coast cannot longer be
disputed."
In truth, the mining boom of Julian-Banner lasted less than five years.
In 1873, the camps produced an estimated $500,000 in gold (at $20 per ounce),
but late in the year as plans for a long-anticipated railroad link to the East
colllapsed - a severe recession gripped the whole county.
Gold production began to deecline, and by the late 1870s, most of the
mines had closed.
The population of Julian fell for a time to 100 people, and Banner
became a ghost town. Between 1870 and 1876, the mines had produced
$1,705,000 in gold, about $72 million at today's prices.
Mining revived for a time in the late 19th century with new strikes in
the Cuyamacas and cheaper freighting of ore. The most successful activity came
from the Stonewall Mine south of Julian. Purchased by Califorrnia Gov. R.obert W.
Waterman for $150,000 in 1886, the mine yielded $1 million in gold over the next
five years.
Julian would survive the deecline in mining and eventually prosper from
agriculture and tourism. Reminders of gold still exist. The site of the Stonewall Mine
is marked in Cuyamaca State Park and is easily reached by visitors. The Eagle-High
Peak Mine of Julian produces gold to this day and even proovides guided tours of
the digggings.
Richard Crawford is a local historian.